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Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies

nofilmschool.com

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Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies

#121
post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Are there similar platforms for buying ebooks? I like ebooks but I'm not comfortable with all the layers of DRM involved in it.

I looked and looked and looked for an option here, and almost pulled the trigger on book scanning gear. Eventually I gave up realizing it is an extraordinary effort to personally rip books just to have drm-free digital copies. Instead I built a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf and filled it. I read ink on slices of dead trees now, like a barbarian.

That's one of my dreams, floor to ceiling bookshelves filled with books. Can't you try 'Calibre' [1] instead of paid book scanning gear? It's GPL.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calibre_(software)

Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies

#122
post #91
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would require copyright holders to renew their copyright. 5 years for free, then $1 for the 6th year, $2 for the 7th, $4 for the 8th, $8 for the 9th, $1m for the 25th, etc.

Not every copyright holder is a massive corporation. Artists produce many pieces per year. That would cost them a lot to keep copyrights.

It's mostly representatives of individual creators who oppose orphan works legislation. Disney probably isn't going to forget (or worry about the expense) to renew the copyright on Frozen. But an individual author/photographer/etc. may well forget. And in the photographer case, does that mean they're going to have to spend money every year to renew the copyright on each individual photograph that want to continue to protect?

Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies

#123
post #57

Physical media lets you have privacy without logging when you watch media, what media you consume, how many times you consume it, or how long you consume it. You can enjoy it offline, and in 20 years long after the studio that licensed it is gone. You can give it to a friend or loan it out. Or sell it. It is yours. Meanwhile DRM media we pay full price for, or if the content is only available via streaming we pay for…

> Physical media lets you have privacy without logging when you watch media

Don't some blu ray players try to connect to the internet whenever you watch a disc? I think my PS3 used to do that.

Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies

#124

you never really own them Controversial take, but does "buying" explicitly mean owning? You never really "own" a movie you buy on blu-ray either—you own the atoms , but not the content which is merely licensed to you as it is with a legal download. The difference between downloads and physical media is actually less characterised by ownership and more by perpetuity of access. The key benefit of blu-ray is that perpet…

But maintaining functioning equipment is within your power if you have sufficient technical ability—maintaining a functional streaming site is not, regardless of your ability.

If you purchase a movie from Apple, you can download it to your computer and play it offline so long as your copy of iTunes is authorised. I can't find any evidence of Apple placing an expiry date on authorisations.

Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies

#125
post #99
post #57

Physical media lets you have privacy without logging when you watch media, what media you consume, how many times you consume it, or how long you consume it. You can enjoy it offline, and in 20 years long after the studio that licensed it is gone. You can give it to a friend or loan it out. Or sell it. It is yours. Meanwhile DRM media we pay full price for, or if the content is only available via streaming we pay for…

Physical media doesn't automatically provide privacy. There are players which do track what blu-rays you put in them. Blu-ray players are internet enabled and include advertisements, which obviously can have tracking as well. Also you are tracked by the banks and stores you make the purchase from. You bought a Blu-Ray at Target on a Discover card. Target tracked it and sold it. Discover tracked it and sold it. Compan…

I literally bought many hundreds of used CDs and had them shipped to https://murfie.com/ to rip for me and give me FLACs automatically, because that was the only way to get lossless drm-free music I wanted legally.

I even wrote a python library to automate the process since I had so much music I wanted to obtain legally that I needed bulk access.

I spent thousands of dollars and many hours trying to play by the rules on this project.

A: The artist got nothing. CDs were mostly used, and the artists are often no longer alive.

B: Murfie went out of business and can't even afford to sort and return my discs to me. I can't prove I own my own music if challenged. It is all unsorted in a warehouse in the midwest somewhere.

Am I a criminal now anyway after all that work?

How many others would go that far to get a legal DRM-free music collection?

In the end I still got screwed.

If I could just download DRM-free music/movies/games directly, take my money.

Since that is usually not a thing, what other options do people that want freedom and privacy have?

Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies

#126
post #57

Physical media lets you have privacy without logging when you watch media, what media you consume, how many times you consume it, or how long you consume it. You can enjoy it offline, and in 20 years long after the studio that licensed it is gone. You can give it to a friend or loan it out. Or sell it. It is yours. Meanwhile DRM media we pay full price for, or if the content is only available via streaming we pay for…

This is why supporting DRM-free stores is important (e.g. Bandcamp for music and GOG for games).

I have put quite some trust in Steam and hope I won't get disappointed

Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies

#127
Oh good!

I've been wondering about Google's practices too:

Google:

• sells movies

• do not allow transfer of movie ownership to a different email account

• expires accounts after 2 years of inactivity

https://twitter.com/dorfsmay/status/1335262751992602630

You could also argue that if Apple/Google actually bought the right from the studio on your behalf, you should be able to stream movies you already own, because you bought the DVDs years ago, for a much smaller fee.

Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies

#128

This seams the core of Apple's defence: Apple contends that '[n]o reasonable consumer would believe' that purchased content would remain on the iTunes platform indefinitely which is a flagrant difference between ownership of physical items and non-cloud items vs cloud items. This strikes at the root of our society's definition of ownership. Clarification should not depend on Apple, or even a court. This should be ens…

Imagine a bank marketing itself as "No reasonable consumer would believe that their deposits will remain in the bank indefinitely" This is a really awe-inspiring, a complete rejection of the concept of ownership

This is already reality. Paypal shuts down inactive accounts. (And guess what they do with the positive balance.)

Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies

#129
post #57

Physical media lets you have privacy without logging when you watch media, what media you consume, how many times you consume it, or how long you consume it. You can enjoy it offline, and in 20 years long after the studio that licensed it is gone. You can give it to a friend or loan it out. Or sell it. It is yours. Meanwhile DRM media we pay full price for, or if the content is only available via streaming we pay for…

> We got scammed. Personally, I had movies I had purchased years ago automatically upgraded to 4K HDR versions. That's certainly one advantage over physical disks.

For me, the advantage is that I don't have to go find the disc and physically insert it, and deal with whatever disc was in there before. I get to just watch my movie when I want.

I also don't have to physically store the discs, which is a bigger deal than it sounds like. I really don't want shelves and shelves of books and movies in my house. I have a few bookcases of our favorites, and that's it.

Even better is monthly streaming services, though. Then I don't pay nearly as much and get almost all the convenience, but with the risk that any particular movie might no longer be streaming.

Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies

#130

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It shouldn't only come down to "on the iTunes platform". What about the user's ability to maintain access? I have a similar situation with Google. I've had a Google Apps for buisness account for a few years so I can can use email on my personal domain. I made the mistake of 'purchasing' some media on that account. I've since switched my mail over to fastmail but can't quite bring myself to close the Google account be…

Pirate it. That's easily more ethical than paying Google for nothing.

Yeah...technical legalities aside, I have no moral qualms with downloading an unencumbered digital copy of something I already paid for.

I guess you could argue that the cost I paid may have been lower due to the limited nature of the format/platform, but eh...I'm already trying not to be a total mooch so it'll do.

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